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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">+<html>+<head>+<title>Writing Clang Tools</title>+<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../menu.css">+<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../content.css">+</head>+<body>+<div id="content">++<h1>Writing Clang Tools</h1>+<p>Clang provides infrastructure to write tools that need syntactic and semantic+information about a program. This document will give a short introduction of the+different ways to write clang tools, and their pros and cons.</p>++<!-- ======================================================================= -->+<h2 id="libclang"><a href="http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/group__CINDEX.html">LibClang</a></h2>+<!-- ======================================================================= -->++<p>LibClang is a stable high level C interface to clang. When in doubt LibClang+is probably the interface you want to use. Consider the other interfaces only+when you have a good reason not to use LibClang.</p>+<p>Canonical examples of when to use LibClang:</p>+<ul>+ <li>XCode</li>+ <li>Clang Python Bindings</li>+</ul>+<p>Use LibClang when you...</p>+<ul>+ <li>want to interface with clang from other languages than C++</li>+ <li>need a stable interface that takes care to be backwards compatible</li>+ <li>want powerful high-level abstractions, like iterating throught an AST +with a cursor, and don't want to learn all the nitty gritty details of Clang's +AST.</li>+</ul>+<p>Do not use LibClang when you...</p>+<ul>+ <li>want full control over the Clang AST</li>+</ul>++<!-- ======================================================================= -->+<h2 id="clang-plugins"><a href="http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/classclang_1_1PluginASTAction.html">Clang Plugins</a></h2>+<!-- ======================================================================= -->++<p>Clang Plugins allow you to run additional actions on the AST as part of+a compilation. Plugins are dynamic libraries that are loaded at runtime by+the compiler, and they're easy to integrate into your build environment.</p>+<p>Canonical examples of when to use Clang Plugins:</p>+<ul>+ <li>special lint-style warnings or errors for your project</li>+ <li>creating additional build artifacts from a single compile step</li>+</ul>+<p>Use Clang Plugins when you...</p>+<ul>+ <li>need your tool to rerun if any of the dependencies change</li>+ <li>want your tool to make or break a build</li>+ <li>need full control over the Clang AST</li>+</ul>+<p>Do not use Clang Plugins when you...</p>+<ul>+ <li>want to run tools outside of your build environment</li>+ <li>want full control on how Clang is set up, including mapping of in-memory+ virtual files</li>+ <li>need to run over a specific subset of files in your project which is not+ necessarily related to any changes which would trigger rebuilds</li>+</ul>++<!-- ======================================================================= -->+<h2 id="libtooling"><a href="http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/namespaceclang_1_1tooling.html">LibTooling</a></h2>+<!-- ======================================================================= -->++<p>LibTooling is a C++ interface aimed at writing standalone tools, as well as+integrating into services that run clang tools.</p>+<p>Canonical examples of when to use LibTooling:</p>+<ul>+ <li>a simple syntax checker</li>+ <li>refactoring tools</li>+</ul>+<p>Use LibTooling when you...</p>+<ul>+ <li>want to run tools over a single file, or a specific subset of files,+ independently of the build system</li>+ <li>want full control over the Clang AST</li>+ <li>want to share code with Clang Plugins</li>+</ul>+<p>Do not use LibTooling when you...</p>+<ul>+ <li>want to run as part of the build triggered by dependency changes</li>+ <li>want a stable interface so you don't need to change your code when the+ AST API changes</li>+ <li>want high level abstractions like cursors and code completion out of the+ box</li>+ <li>do not want to write your tools in C++</li>+</ul>++</div>+</body>+</html>+